Iran’s Security Chief Ali Larijani killed, Says Israel’s PM

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel is weakening the Iranian regime “in the hope of giving the Iranian people an opportunity to remove it”, during a video address in which he said a central regime figure  and Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani  has been killed in an Israeli strike.

“It will not happen all at once, and it will not happen easily. But if we persist, we will give them the chance to take their destiny into their own hands,” the Israeli prime minister said.

He describes Larijani as the head “of a gang of gangsters that runs Iran”.

According to Israel’s Defence Minister Katz Larijani was killed alongside the Basij force commander Gholamreza Soleimani in an attack last night.

Earlier, Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, said “Iranians are safer” without Larijani and Basij commander Gholamreza Soleimani, who Israel also said it had killed. Defence minister Israel Katz said the IDF had been instructed “to continue hunting down the leadership” of Iran.

Iran has not confirmed whether Larijani has been killed or injured.

Meanwhile Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s late shah, said that Ali Larijani and a number of other high-ranking Iranian leaders who Israel claims to have killed have “met the fate they deserved”.

“Larijani, Gholamreza Soleimani, and a number of other notorious commanders and perpetrators of the ruthless massacre of Iran’s finest sons have met the fate they deserved,” Pahlavi said in a post on social media.

“May it serve as a balm for the deep wounds of the great nation of Iran and the scorched hearts of the families of the immortal heroes of the Lion and Sun Revolution,” he added.

In a related development Saudi Arabia’s Interior Minister Abdulaziz bin Saud has held a phone call with his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani to discuss the regional repercussions of the US-Israel war on Iran.

“We discussed the security implications of the current developments amid the ongoing brutal Iranian attacks on the Gulf states and the region”, said bin Saud in a post on social media.

“I affirmed to His Excellency the Kingdom’s stance alongside Qatar in everything that achieves the security and safety of its citizens and residents therein.”

Bin Saud held a similar phone call with Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, deputy prime minister and minister of interior of the United Arab Emirates.